11 



consist of twice as many objects as it now con- 

 tains.* 



In the Department of Prints and Drawings the 

 want of room, even to lodge the portfolios con- 

 taining the collection, is sufficiently shomi by the 

 placing of presses in the narrow passage^ leading 

 from the landing to the Print Room.*" The dis- 

 play of some of the best prints and drawings has 

 often been entertained by the Trustees, who felt 

 how important it was that this should be done, but 

 who never could carry their intention into effect for 

 want of room. The Kouyunjik Room, by the side of 

 the north-western portion of the Egyptian Saloon,^ 

 had been built for the purpose of such an exhi- 

 bition, when the influx of Assyrian Antiquities 

 forced the Trustees to devote that Room to their 

 display, adjourning to an indefinite period the 

 exhibition of the objects for which it was origi- 

 nally intended. 



^ The Keeper of the Department of Zoology concludes a 

 report, dated the 2*2nd of October, 1857, with, the followmg 

 words : — " Dr. Gray considers it his duty to state, that, at 

 " the present time, more than half of the collection is 

 " hidden from the public ^dew, indeed he might almost say 

 " two-thirds, when the annulose animals are included ; and 

 " that the part of the collection that is exhibited, ought to 

 " have at least twice its present space for its proper exhibi- 

 " tion." The Superintendent of the Departments of 

 Natural History concurs in these views. 



b Plan III., 19. ^Plan III., 20. 



^ Plan II., 24. 



